Other religions recognize the tendency of young men to stray and have built elaborate rituals to keep them engaged. Asian Buddhists train every willing boy to become a novice monk. Jews welcome men through the bar mitzvah. Mormons send their young men on a two-year mission. And tribal religions subject adolescent boys to painful, frightening manhood initiations that most Westerners would condemn as abuse. And in Christianity we have . . . the confirmation class. Wow. That’ll have the boys lining up. Since the church is unwilling to initiate young men into manhood, they do it themselves.
